Departure, By Another Route
by Island Breezes
Summary: The Depature episode takes on a new twist, as Max, Michael, Liz, Maria, and Isabel, thinking they are going to Antar, wind up on a different planet altogether. Story Complete
1. Default Chapter

**Departure **

**By Another Route**

**Written in response to challenge at majiklmoonsrealm**

**A one-part Roswell fic - the way the "Departure" episode should have been written?**

** >>>>>>>>>>>>**

**I don't own Roswell or any of the characters from the show. Darn! Jason Katims and Melinda Metz own them, I guess. I just record their further adventures… the ones they should have had but didn't get the chance to, because some TV execs were too short-sighted. So with my thanks to Katims and Metz, here is my unique version of "Departure." It is a two-hour episode, as it should have been! Of course! Some characters (Zor, Aria, Bryl, Darya, Katawsh, and the Dinuvians) are my own and not from the show or books. Oh, and Jesse? Who's Jesse? In this episode there never was any Jesse.**

** >>>>>>>>>>>>**

**The scene opens deep within the mountains somewhere. As the camera pans slowly past the high, majestic peaks, it comes to one particular unusual peak, among all the others, that is almost straight up, slightly cone-shaped, with a top that appears to be flat. Near it is a second, similar peak reaching perhaps a thousand feet into the sky, almost as high as the surrounding "regular" peaks. The camera stops on the second of these narrow, flat-topped peaks and begins to pan upward slowly. Reaching the top at end, it pans across a wide, well-manicured lawn then a small, bubbling brook and finally comes to a large, nice-looking house. We move toward a veranda on the back of the house. Inside, we hear people talking.**

**"So what you're telling me is that Max believes he's the father?"**

**"Yes," the voice of a younger male answers.**

**"And Tess actually believes it, too?"**

**"Yeah… I know it sounds farfetched…"**

**"Hmmm… maybe not, given the facts you've told us and what we already know. **

**"You see why this is important…" the younger male says… "why I have to go… it may already be too late."**

**"I still don't understand Kivar's motivation in all this, though. What do you make of it, my Love?"**

**"I haven't figured that out, either, Zor, a woman's voice replies. "Kivar's mind works in dark and sinister ways."**

**"Well, you two need to figure something out," the voice of the younger male insists, "like… right now! Things are not getting better in Roswell at the moment. I really, really need to be there."**

**"We know!" the lady replies. "It's just that it's… well, it's not that easy or simple. If Kivar thinks he has succeeded… if he believes his plot is unfolding exactly as he planned… we have to let him think that."**

**"Oh! Well, that's not much of a stretch! The way I see it, it is unfolding exactly as he planned!"**

**"You're very loyal to your friends, aren't you, young man? That's a virtue!"**

**"I may not have any friends left to be loyal to soon!"**

**"We are not without an interest in them either, you know." **

**"I'm… I'm sorry. I realize that, Aria."**

**"Your loyalty is commendable. But you must calm yourself… see things in a rational light. Your returning right now would simply let Kivar know that something went vastly wrong with his plan… not something little, mind you. He would know that this involved something far beyond your mere potential… or even Tess'. He would search for the truth. It would not take him long to figure it out. There could be only one answer… and Kivar would know this. You can see our predicament."**

**The young man nodded. "But you can understand mine, can't you?"**

**"We do, young man. We do… And we will try to help you… Kivar intended for your atoms to be scattered across the universe by the trans-arc zenon induction ether ray, just as ours were supposed to have been long ago… and they would have been! But as you know, the Dinuvians spoiled Kivar's plot then, and they saved you the same way. Kivar doesn't know that we or you are still alive, and we must keep it that way… for now. **

**You should be aware, though, of some of the things that we have learned. Kivar approached the one called 'Kyle' and had some kind of dealings with him or used him in some way. We don't know the reasons for that, but we do know that he mindwarped Kyle to think he was talking to Ava… you call her 'Tess.' They argued about something, and Kivar put an unusual double mindwarp on Kyle, which we were able to detect. He made Kyle believe that he had carried a body for Tess… then he clouded that mindwarp with a less powerful one to make Kyle think it was a suitcase he had carried. We believe he wanted Kyle to 'think' he remembered at some point that he had carried a body for Tess. What we don't understand is he seems to be setting up both Tess and another girl, one called Leanna, to look like a killer."**

**"Leanna's innocent! I don't know what Max might do if he thinks she's one of Kivar's 'skins.' She's no killer!"**

**"We know. And perhaps that is part of Kivar's plan… to make Zan do something rash and have him punished by the authorities on earth… perhaps even executed. Kivar would like that. That would be the ultimate joke on the Royal House of Antar… another slap in the face from Kivar, as it were. That's why he tried to seduce Ava and Vilandra, you know. We're still trying to figure out what Kivar is planning this time, though, so we'll know better how to react."**

** >>>>>>>>>>>>**

**(The scene changes to the CrashDown in Roswell, where Maria is talking.)**

**"So Tess and Max are an item. There, I've said it. I don't like it, but I've said it."**

**"Max got Tess pregnant," Michael added. "The baby can't survive on earth, so we have to return to Antar. Fortunately, I think I've found a way." **

**Liz shook her head. "I don't believe it. Why? What could he see in Tess? He wouldn't do this… not to me."**

**"Believe it," Michael said. "He did it."**

**"I'd have to hear it from him," Liz said.**

**At that moment, Max walked in. He was carrying a small crystal in his hand. Looking around, he understood immediately that he was the topic of conversation. The looks told him that. It made him uneasy.**

**"This is the key, Michael. We go in the morning. Who's with us? Isabel?"**

**"This is so sudden, Max. What about everyone we're leaving behind… Mom… Dad?"**

**"They're not our mom and dad, Isabel."**

**"Yes, Max, they are! They took us in when we were lost and homeless. They loved us! They are our parents!"**

**Max nodded, silently acknowledging the truth in what Isabel had said.**

**Liz stepped in front of Max. She looked up, looking him squarely in the eyes.**

**"Max, tell me the truth… about Tess…"**

**Max shook his head. "It's true," he said simply. **

**Tears welled up in Liz's eyes. "I don't believe it, Max. I know you. I know you better than you know yourself. I've seen inside your mind and your heart. I've been there. This is not the Max Evans I know!"**

**"Maybe I'm not the Max Evans you thought you knew, Liz. Maybe I'm… something else… something darker."**

**"No, Max! I won't believe that even if you believe it! I gave you everything! I saved myself for you!"**

**"Hell, Liz! You slept with Kyle! How is that being faithful?"**

**Liz stifled a sob. "No, Max. I didn't."**

**"I saw you, Liz! How can you say you didn't?"**

**Liz was silent, contemplating the possible consequences of revealing too much. She decided that it didn't matter anymore. Tears fell from her eyes onto Max's hand. They seemed to burn… like small flames… flames that spoke louder than any words. Max looked at his hand, and it hit him.**

**"Why, Liz? Why would you want me to believe you were unfaithful when you weren't?"**

**"I had to, Max. It's complicated."**

**"Try me."**

**"To save the world, Max…"**

**Liz related the entire story of how future Max had come to her and his dire predictions for the future of the world if he married her and not Tess.**

**"Shouldn't I have had a say in this, too, Liz?" Max asked. Tess means nothing to me. I don't love Tess. How could I even consider marrying her?"**

**"How could you even consider getting her pregnant? Now you want to go to Antar with her!"**

**Max was momentarily at a loss for any answer. It was hard to argue with facts.**

**"I thought you didn't believe that, Liz."**

**"I… I still don't, Max. You can tell me a hundred times… but I know you. I've seen inside your mind… your heart… I know what's there. You could never…"**

**Max collapsed into a chair shaking his head. "I don't know how, either, Liz. I don't! I just know it happened. I don't know how."**

**"Okay, Max… I believe you."**

**"…that I got her pregnant?"**

**"No. I believe you don't know what happened. I told you. I know you. I've seen inside your mind… inside your heart. It's not in you to do something like that. You love me."**

**Max nodded. "I could never deny that or hide it from you."**

**"Then let's work this out together, Max… the two of us. Let's find out the truth."**

**Max nodded, and as he looked into Liz's eyes, he saw what he had been denying.**

**"I do love you, Liz. I don't know how you can believe in me when I don't believe in myself. I have the feeling that you may be right… I just don't know how."**

**"How is not the question, Max. "We'll find that out… the two of us."**

**Max kissed her, and the tension seemed to ease from both of them.**

**"Well, this is all really very sweet and touching," Michael said with a touch of sarcasm in his voice, "but I'm going to Antar tomorrow. And so is Tess… and Isabel. You two can both come, I guess…"**

**Maria looked down at the floor, and tears blurred her eyes.**

** >>>>>>>>>>>>**

**Later that day, while serving customers at the CrashDown, Maria noticed Kyle drumming his fingers on the tabletop absentmindedly. At first she tried to ignore it.**

**"What'll it be, Kyle?"**

**" 'Saturn's Rings' and a Cherry Coke."**

**As Kyle tapped on, without realizing what he was doing, even cedar oil would not have been enough to help Maria ignore it.**

**"Kyle, will you stop that tapping! You're driving me crazy!"**

**"I'm not tapping."**

**"Yes, you are! You don't even know it!"**

**Suddenly, Maria stopped in her tracks, and her mouth fell open. **

**"Omigod!" **

**Maria untied her apron and rushed from the CrashDown, throwing the apron into Kyle's lap as she ran out.**

**"Hey! Where're you going, Maria? Wait a minute!" Kyle rushed to catch up.**

**"Geez, if my tapping is bothering you that much, I promise I'll stop."**

**"It's not that, Kyle."**

**"What's the big hurry, then, Maria? There's no one in the CrashDown to watch things."**

**"This is more important, Kyle! Max and Liz went to take care of some 'last minute business,' and if he does what I'm afraid he might do, he'll never…" her voice trailed off.**

**"What?" **

**"Max thinks Leanna killed Alex."**

**"Yeah, we all know that," Kyle said. "We figured that out. She is a skin, you know."**

**"It wasn't Leanna, Kyle… It was Tess."**

**"Tess? No way! Wait a minute, Maria! I know Tess is no saint, but a killer? Why?"**

**"I don't know, Kyle. But after Tess mindwarped Mom at the UFO Museum, I saw her tapping the way you were just doing, and then I remembered that Alex was doing it, too, right before he disappeared. I think Tess mindwarped all three of you. The tapping must be some kind of side effect."**

**"I wasn't mindwarped. I would know it."**

**"No, you wouldn't! That's the point of being mindwarped! Think, Kyle.**

**Kyle did think about it, and as he delved deeper into his subconscious, scenes began to come back to him… of him arguing with "Tess" about her trying to mindwarp him… of him carrying something to the car for her… Alex's body?**

**"Oh Buddah and Krishna! Maria, we've got to stop Max!"**

**Kyle and Maria rushed to Leanna's Apartment, racing up the stairs to her door, hoping they weren't too late. Kyle knocked frantically on the door, and the door opened. It was Max.**

**"Max? What are you doing in there? Tell me you haven't…"**

**"It's done, Kyle. I took care of it. Go home."**

**"Max," Maria implored, "It wasn't Leanna. Leanna didn't kill Alex!"**

**"I know," Max said. Max swung the door open. Liz and Leanna were sitting in the living room talking.**

**"Liz knew that Leanna wasn't an alien after she saw her prick her finger with a needle while sewing. Besides, Leanna has human blood –Liz checked it- and Leanna's totally blind."**

**"What?"**

**"It's a long story. Come on in and sit down."**

**Kyle and Maria closed the door and sat down.**

**"Leanna helped Alex decode the manual for Tess."**

**"So you already know it was Tess?"**

**"Who else could it have been? She's the only one capable of hiding it with a mind warp."**

**"Bingo," said Kyle.**

**"Well," Max said, "We came here to find out what Leanna could tell us about Alex's last days. She thinks that things may not be as they seem."**

**"What things," asked Maria.**

**"Well, she noticed Alex tapping his fingers a lot…"**

**"Like you were doing, Kyle," Maria said. "I told you!"**

**"Leanna thinks it wasn't random. She's convinced it was a code," Max said… "an alien code… possibly being transmitted from somewhere else in the universe… and that their minds were receptive to it because of the mind warps."**

**"Far out!" Kyle said. "But if this is true, what does it mean?"**

**"We don't know," Liz joined in. Leanna made a recording of Alex's tapping, and we've been trying to find some kind of pattern to it."**

**"Maybe you're looking in the wrong place," Maria said.**

**"Huh?"**

**"Well, maybe all that data that Leanna and Alex decoded and put into the computer can decode the tapping. I don't know. It's just a thought."**

**"Maria!" Liz exclaimed.**

**"All right! All right! I know… It was a dumb idea."**

**"No, Maria! You're brilliant! It's a great idea!" Liz said. **

**Liz, Leanna, and Max quickly had the tape recorder hooked up to the input. They listened to the tapping as it uploaded into the computer. Once it was uploaded, Leanna, though blind, quickly and expertly programmed the computer to look for patterns in hopes of decoding the message… if there was one. **

**"Now I see why Alex looked you up," Max said. "You're amazing, Leanna!"**

**Leanna smiled but said nothing. After several minutes, the computer, using a voice message, which Leanna could hear, indicated that a pattern had been found. Symbols appeared on the screen… Antarian symbols.**

**"Now you compare these to the symbols Alex and I decoded from the manual," Leanna said.**

**"Did I tell you you're amazing?" Max said, his eyes betraying his anticipation.**

**At that moment, the door flung open, and Michael and Isabel rushed in.**

**"Max! Don't hurt her! She didn't kill Alex!" Michael yelled.**

**Everyone turned and looked at the new arrivals.**

**"You're a bit late, guys," Max said, "but now that you're here, we're decoding the tapping Alex was doing with his fingers."**

**Michael looked around at Max… at Liz… at Maria, Kyle… and Leanna. Then his eyes moved to the computer screen.**

**"What's that? I've seen those before!"**

**"It's a computer, Michael," Maria said. "You'd know if you had paid more attention in school.**

**"Ha… ha… funny…" Michael panned. "I mean the symbols. Those are Antarian. I've seen them before."**

**"Michael, you didn't think Max was going to hurt Leanna did you?" Kyle asked somewhat sanctimoniously, changing the subject.**

**"No… No… I just… well, you know… I… What are you doing here, by the way, Kyle?"**

**Kyle grinned sheepishly.**

**"I thought so," Michael said.**

**At that moment, the screen changed. The symbols disappeared, and writing appeared. Max, Michael, and the others all crowded in front of the screen to read and listen, as the computer intoned…**

**i Come quickly. Use crystal in wall… south side of granolith. We need you. Come quickly. Use crystal in wall… south side of granolith. We need you. /i**

**This repeated over and over.**

**"What does it mean?" Kyle asked.**

**Max shook his head.**

**"I think it means Tess didn't kill Alex," Michael said. "…if Alex figured out the message."**

**Max flushed. "You don't think he would have…"**

**"I think Alex was capable of anything, Max," Michael said.**

** >>>>>>>>>>>>**

**Max hopped out of his jeep and ran across the desert sand to the monolithic wall where the granolith was hidden. He pressed his hand to the side of the wall, and a door opened. Michael, Maria, Liz, Kyle, and Isabel followed him into the cave. The granolith was still there.**

**"Look in the wall on the south side, Max," Liz urged… "like the message said. Maybe there's something hidden in it."**

**Max ran his hands over the wall until he felt an unusual tingling. He pressed his hand to the spot, and the wall crumbled away, revealing a large crystal. He removed it and held it in his hand.**

**"What is it?" Maria asked.**

**"I'm not sure… but if it's what I think, it's a quick trip home," Max replied.**

**He held the crystal in front of him, and his parents appeared as in a vision.**

**Zan… Rath… Vilandra… Ava… If you have found this crystal, then you know that the time has come for you to return. Hold the crystal in front of you. Remain where you are, and you will be transported.**

**"Uh… I'm not sure about this," Maria said, stepping outside. **

**Michael seemed suddenly flustered and looked around him. He started to move, but he knew that if he did, he might miss the 'ride home.'**

**"Maria, come back!" he shouted.**

**"You don't need me, spaceboy," Maria said sadly. "You'll be fine. Go!"**

**Michael seemed momentarily in a panic. He looked up, as though expecting some kind of ray to come at any moment. Then he broke from the others and ran outside, scooping Maria up in his arms.**

**"Maria, if I'm going anywhere, I'm going with you. I'm not going anywhere without you. I've made up my mind, so don't even try to change it. Are we going or staying?"**

**Maria flushed. She had never expected to be asked to decide something like this for Michael.**

**"I can't tell you that, Michael… It's your whole life…"**

**"No! It's not! You're my whole life, Maria. I didn't realize that until just now. So do we go or do we stay?"**

**Maria looked at Michael then at the others waiting inside. She knew what it had meant to Michael and what he was giving up.**

**"Get in there, spaceboy, before we miss the comet!"**

**Michael smiled, and as he rushed back over to the others, still holding Maria in his arms, the entire cavern was suddenly bathed in a bright blue light. Then there was no one.**

** >>>>>>>>>>>>**

**The group reappeared together on the veranda of a comfortable-looking, elegant house overlooking some mountains. Standing on the veranda were a man and a woman. **

**"Well, Rath, did you kidnap her or do you just carry her around like this all the time?" the woman asked smiling.**

**"Huh? Oh!" Michael blushed slightly and set Maria down. Maria smiled. **

**"Welcome to Dinuvia," the lady said. "Welcome to our home," her companion added. "Please make yourselves comfortable while we attend to a small matter. We will return shortly." With that, the couple disappeared into the house.**

**"Dinuvia?" Max repeated quizzically.**

**"That was… interesting," said Isabel.**

**Isabel turned and walked about a hundred feet past the side of the house then stopped suddenly. **

**"Omigosh!"**

**"What is it?" Max asked, rushing to her side.**

**"A long, long way down!" Isabel exclaimed. **

**Max and the others all looked. Indeed, they seemed to be on a small plateau –possibly two or three acres in size- on the very top of a mountain peak that stuck straight up out of the ground about a thousand feet into the sky almost like a giant stalagmite. The house seemed to be the only structure on this tiny plateau a thousand feet up. Oddly, there was a brook behind the house. A gentle sandy slope led thirty feet or so from the house to the brook. The brook itself was perhaps fifteen feet wide. On the other side of the brook was a hundred feet or so of well-maintained grass… that they could see.**

**"How can there be a brook on the very top of a straight up mountain?" Maria asked.**

**"There must be a spring inside the rock that comes out on the top. It probably plunges off the other side as a waterfall," Max said.**

**"Oooo-kay," Maria joked, "I guess I won't be going rafting!"**

**Max grinned. The brook was actually only a foot or so deep at its deepest, and it was quite beautiful, with rocks and everything that a nice brook would have. The group walked across the sand then waded across the brook to the grass. They walked across the grass perhaps a hundred feet till they came to a hidden part of the plateau that jutted out from the rest slightly. Here, they saw two large rocks… well, actually, two halves of one large rock. Each was about twenty feet high, and each was carved out inside and fitted with a huge crystal that took up the entire hollowed area, which was about fifteen feet high and five feet wide. One of these large rock halves with its enormous crystal inside stood on each side at the head of what appeared to be a swimming pool. A hundred feet or so behind the two large rocks, there was some kind of large generator that hummed away as it labored to provide something… probably electricity… to the plateau and the house. Max surmised that the crystals inside the rocks somehow provided light.**

**Max and Liz decided that the entire surface of the plateau was one large yard. From the house and the veranda, one could not see the drop-offs at all, only the clouds and mountaintops beyond… and the beautiful brook behind the house with the well-manicured lawn beyond that. But a short walk in any direction told them that however one got down from this place, it wasn't by car.**

**The group returned to the veranda. The man and his companion were waiting.**

**"I see you've explored our site," the man said. "What did you think?"**

**"Amazing," Michael said. Maria nodded in agreement.**

**"How do you get down from here?" Maria wanted to know.**

**The couple smiled. "You'll find out… We don't often go down. This is our home. You see those other mountains? Among them are other plateaus like this one, and on many of them, there are homes. There's one off to the right that can be seen. It's slightly lower than ours, so on a clear day, one can see the entire site. Others are interspersed here and there throughout the mountains."**

**"Why were we brought here?" Max asked, getting right to the crux of their situation.**

**"Yes," Michael added, "I want to know that, too."**

**The lady smiled. "Right down to business aren't you Zan? Haven't changed a bit… You either, Rath. A lot of… shall we say, intrinsic information was 'programmed' into you both… and into Vilandra and Ava, too; but I guess you couldn't be expected to recognize us now. It's been forty years. You were reborn, but we have only gotten older."**

**Michael looked at the couple closer. "Max?"**

**Max looked at them, too. In his mind, he saw visions of his young parents as they had appeared in the cave. If one added forty years… it could be…"**

**"Are you…?"**

**The couple nodded. **

**"But you're… dead," Max said with a shaky certainty.**

**Isabel approached the couple and touched them gently, carefully, as if they might break, then tears formed in her eyes. "It is you. I remember!" She hugged their mother. Their father smiled and laid his hand on her arm.**

**"How…?" Max started to ask.**

**"All in good time," their father said. "There is someone else here whom you may remember, too." He pointed toward the house. Leaning on the inside of the open door jamb, smiling broadly, was a more familiar, if even more unexpected, face. **

**"Alex?" Omigod, it can't be! Isabel exclaimed. "What the… Oh, geez! Alex?"**

**Alex grinned and looked somewhat sheepish.**

**"I think what Isabel wants to know is what in Hades and a galaxy of super novas are you doing here," said Michael. "And I would like to know that, too, by the way!"**

**"Thanks, Michael," Isabel said.**

**"Long story," Alex said. "Let's go inside and talk about it, okay?"**

**"Oh, yeah… okay… sure. Now this is where you live…" Isabel muttered.**

**"I have for a little while, yes," Alex answered her… "thanks to Zor and Aria." **

** >>>>>>>>>>>>**

**Returning to Roswell, we find Kivar consorting with one of his "skins," a young female, pretty, but in a dangerous sort of way.**

**"If those imbeciles had any clue, Rayla… They think I don't know what happened to them… Fools! Do they really believe me so inept?" Kivar crushed an unopened soda can in his hand, punching through the sides with his fingers as the drink ran out over his hand.**

**"That's what I'll do to Zor and Aria when I find them. They're unfinished business… and you know how I feel about unfinished business."**

**"I wish I could be there to see it," Rayla groveled, smiling gratuitously at Kivar.**

**"Perhaps you will be, Rayla. We shall see. I was ready this time when they snatched that inept brat's atoms as they dispersed, and I tracked his essence."**

**"So you know where they went?"**

**"They're on a planet called Dinuvia, but I will have to use the TAZIER again to narrow the search further… and hope that those imbeciles will snatch this one's atoms before her aura disperses, too."**

**"TAZIER?"**

**"Trans-Arc Zenon Induction Ether Ray! Must I spell it out for you, Rayla?"**

**"Sorry, Kivar… You said 'her' atoms… a female?" **

**"A female. Liz Parker, the one Zan follows around after like a lovesick lost puppy. And they think he's a king!" Kivar spit on the ground. "He's just a boy… and I'll crush him like the boy he is. I've already set the wheels in motion for my revenge on Zan. When that idiot they call Kyle remembers the earlier mindwarp and thinks he disposed of the brat's body, he'll tell Zan, and what do you think Zan will do?"**

**"Kill Ava?"**

**"Maybe… but Ava has certain… powers. She might accidentally overcome him. So I've chosen a second victim… the one the brat sought help from to decode the manual. I've already put the idea into their heads that she's an alien and that she killed him…"**

**"Alex?"**

**"Don't say that name! He's a brat! …an inept brat!"**

**"Okay… okay… What's the big deal?"**

**"No inept, foolish human threatens me! He was lucky… Never mind, you don't need to know… Getting rid of him was especially gratifying. But never mind! To you, he's 'the brat.' You got it?"**

**"I got it! Okay! …touchy."**

**"What?"**

**"Nothing."**

**One of Kivar's "skins" approached, and he appeared not to bear good news.**

**"Kivar, I searched for the girl…"**

**"Liz Parker?"**

**"Yes. It appears that she's not in Roswell."**

**"Well, where is she?"**

**"I… I don't know… but Zan and Rath are gone, too, and so is Vilandra.**

**Kivar's faced reddened momentarily, but then he brought himself under control.**

**"Well, then, find them… and let me know where they are!"**

** >>>>>>>>>>>>**

**The scene returns to the mountain fortress home of Zor and Aria on Dinuvia. Zor is talking.**

**When the Royal house of Antar fell, Kivar was brutal. He used a variety of methods and weapons to dispose of his enemies. One of his newest weapons was the Trans-Arc Zenon Induction Ether Ray, or TAZIER, and he used it liberally. It causes a very spectacular death. The ray reduces the victim to brilliant, fiery atoms that swirl briefly within the victim's aura as the victim's aura becomes visible. Then the aura breaks up violently –explodes- and disperses, releasing the burning atoms into the ether forever. Kivar loved this weapon. He used it on Aria and on me. He used it on Bryl and Darya… That's your parents, Rath."**

**"My parents? They survived, too?"**

**"You remember the site we showed you just to the right of ours, on the next plateau?"**

**Max put his hand on Michael's shoulder… "We can go there, Michael. You can see them!"**

**"What would I say, Max? I don't even remember them. No! That is… I don't know."**

**Zor smiled and continued his story.**

**"The Dinuvians had been friends of the Royal house of Antar for generations, and when Kivar attacked us, they tried to help, but mostly to no avail. However, when Kivar used the TAZIER, he was entirely unaware that the Dinuvians had the mental ability to pull our atoms out of our auras as they exploded. We suffered a fiery death on Antar only to reappear alive on Dinuva."**

**"But what about your auras? Weren't they destroyed?"**

**"Yes, Zan, they were, but the aura is capable of growing back. With our bodies reconstituted, our auras returned. Our auras can never truly be destroyed as long as we are alive, because they are a function of our existence."**

**"So the Dinuvians mentally transported your atoms… your essences… to Dinuvia?"**

**"Yes… and they offered us these mountain fortresses to live on… where Kivar could never find us. We built houses on these plateaus, and here we have lived… waiting."**

**"Waiting?"**

**"For the king and his second, Zan and Rath, to return one day, throw out Kivar, and rule Antar again. You are old enough now. The time has come. This is why we sent the message to bring you here."**

**"What message?"**

**Zor tapped out a code on the tabletop with his fingertips.**

**"The tapping!" Maria exclaimed.**

**"Yes, Maria."**

**"Wait!" Michael said, "Who are you to decide that the time has come for us? This is our lives you're messing with. Did anyone ask what we wanted?"**

**"You came, Rath! No one forced you. It was your choice."**

**This was true. Michael had no ready answer to challenge it.**

**"The Dinuvians used their unique mental abilities to place the crystal in the wall for you to find. The crystal provided the power to bring you here. The Dinuvians guided you to this place. Our sources tell us that Kivar is on earth now looking for you, and he does not know you are here."**

**"Why did he kill Alex?"**

**Zor smiled. "Alex! Ava… your Tess… sent Alex to decode a manual for her. Kivar found out about this and tried to learn more about the manual Tess wanted decoded, but Alex discovered Kivar's intrusions and turned on him, almost causing him to, let's say, self destruct. It's a long story. We'll have time later to tell you about it. But in revenge, Kivar disposed of Alex with the TAZIER. We were prepared, and our Dinuvian friends brought him here."**

**"It must have been pretty serious to get Kivar pissed off like that," Michael said.**

**"Well, I don't want to brag," Alex said, "but I almost got Max's throne back. Unfortunately, 'almost' got my atoms fried, and I wound up here."**

**Michael snickered. "Well, don't feel bad, Alex. You're not the first atom Kivar has fried."**

**"I may be one he'll regret frying," Alex replied. "I've done a lot of thinking since I got here, and I've got a plan."**

**"A plan? …to trap Kivar? You want to get refried?"**

**"It would be worth it, Michael!"**

**Michael nodded. "It would be… if it had a chance of working. That's the part I'm really worried about."**

**"Well, listen to this," Alex said…**

** >>>>>>>>>>>>**

**As the scene reopens, we find at least one of our group back on earth. Liz is asleep in her own bed. She rolls over, and suddenly a hand comes down over her face, covering her mouth. Liz bites the hand, but all she gets is a mouthful of skin, which comes off a bit too readily. She tries to scream, but the sound is muffled. The last thing she is aware of is a sharp pain in the head. She awakes in a strange room with Kivar standing over her.**

**"Welcome back to the living, Liz, my Dear."**

**"Don't call me that!"**

**"What? Dear… or living? No matter… soon you shall be neither."**

**Kivar pointed the TAZIER rod at Liz. Liz cringed and closed her eyes, as Kivar pulled the trigger… with a smile on his face.**

**Nothing happened. **

**He pulled the trigger again, and again nothing happened.**

**Liz opened her eyes and looked at the frustrated Kivar. "You seem to have become impotent, Kivar. Has your rod lost its power?"**

**Kivar pulled the trigger again and again, but nothing happened. Liz smiled then laughed out loud. It was more than Kivar's ego could bear. He would have beat her to death right then and there with the heavy TAZIER rod, but he needed to release her atoms in order to track them.**

**Liz looked at the TAZIER pointed at her. "What's that inside the rod?"**

**Kivar turned the rod around to look in the barrel. It was a stupid mistake… He probably wouldn't have made it with anyone else, but Liz was so… believable, so innocent. As he looked into the barrel, Liz calmly reached up and pulled the trigger. Kivar's eyes grew large, and his mouth dropped open in stunned disbelief as his atoms exploded from his body and burst out of his now visible blackish aura then slowly crackled and burned as they disappeared into nothingness like dying embers that had escaped from a campfire.**

**As the acrid smoke cleared, Tess walked into the room and looked at Liz then smiled as Liz slowly changed into Alex.**

**"Was my mind warp effective, Alex?"**

**"It worked like a charm, Tess. Kivar never suspected."**

**Tess picked up the TAZIER rod. "This thing provides some show!"**

**"Yeah," Alex said. "And I could appreciate it this time."**

**Tess smiled then laughed. "Good thing Kivar thought the trigger was several inches further back than where it actually was."**

**Alex nodded. "Thanks to your mind warp! It's kind of nice mindwarping Kivar for a change… especially after what he did to Kyle and the others."**

**Tess nodded. "That's what he gets for mindwarping me and making me think I was pregnant! Do you know what that's like, Alex?"**

**Alex grinned and reached out his hand… "Come on."**

**Tess took his hand, and a powerful blue light filled the room. They reappeared on the veranda of Zor and Aria's mountain fortress on Dinuvia.**

**Zor and Aria smiled at the group of friends, as Isabel rushed to Alex's side. Alex put his arms around her and kissed her.**

**"I'm so glad you're back, Alex... and that you're alive and safe," Isabel said. "You don't know how I've missed you!"**

**"When we get back, I'll try to make up for it, Isabel," Alex said with a twinkle in his eye. Isabel smiled.**

**"So are you still determined to return to Roswell, Zan? Your way is open now to retake the throne?" Aria said.**

**Max nodded. "Zor… Dad… You were king before me. Could you rule again… with Mom?"**

**"We are no longer young, Zan."**

**"Not forever, Dad, just until we graduate from high school and… well… grow up a little more."**

**Some of the group laughed.**

**"I think you're grown up enough now, Zan… all of you are. But I respect your decision. It's not necessarily a bad thing to want to tie up unfinished business. You will return though?"**

**"I will," Max said… "in a couple of years. You'll send the light for us?"**

**Zor smiled and nodded. He stretched his hand out to Max. Max took it and Zor and Max looked at each other… then they put both arms around each other for a few moments. Isabel hugged her mother then hugged her father as Max hugged his mother.**

**"Well, Rath? Are you going to see Bryl and Darya?" Zor asked.**

**Michael was silent for a moment… then he nodded.**

**Zor waved his hand, and the entire group reappeared on the terrace of the home just below them on the next plateau.**

**"Okay, that was cool!" Maria said.**

**Zor smiled. "I thought you would prefer it to the old way."**

**"What was that?" Maria inquired.**

**"Something like your hang-gliders."**

**"You thought right," Maria said. Everyone laughed.**

**Bryl and Darya took Michael for a private tour of their "site," so that they could talk and get to know each other again.**

**Tess looked at Aria… "Did my parents survive, Aria?"**

**"We aren't sure, Ava. We don't think Kivar killed them. We have looked for them. From time to time, we hear information that seems to indicate that they are alive."**

**Tess smiled. "If you find them…"**

**"We will let you know, Ava… for them and for you… rest assured."**

**"Thank you."**

**Michael returned with Bryl and Darya. He looked somehow different. Max thought he had never seen Michael quite so… free of care or something. Michael had always seemed troubled… deep inside. It was evident even when he was happy or doing the things he enjoyed most. But now… he seemed at peace with himself.**

**Darya hugged Michael and wiped a tear from her eyes, and Bryl squeezed Michael's hand tightly and placed his other hand on his shoulder in a gesture of closeness. Michael smiled. Then they hugged Maria.**

**"This is the one, you say, Rath?"**

**Michael smiled and winked, placing a finger over his lips. Then he kissed Maria, and she kissed him back passionately.**

**Bryl looked at Darya and smiled. Darya nodded.**

**Zor waved his hand again, and everyone present reappeared inside a large council hall. An official-looking man walked up to the group.**

**"So, Zor, has the time come?"**

**"It has, Katawsh, my Dinuvian friend. Now that Kivar is gone, we must return and take our son's throne back so that the kingdom can be prepared for his and Rath's… and Ava and Vilandra's eventual return."**

**"We will miss you, Zor… Aria… Bryl and Darya. We will miss the others, too. I guess this is it then… the departure."**

**Zor nodded. "The Departure! It has such a finality about it, Katawsh. Let's just say that we are spreading our wings, like a bird that was wounded but is now ready to return to its own nest. But you will always be welcome on Antar, Katawsh… you and all Dinuvians. You have been our faithful friends for many generations. Your friendship is important to us and to all true Antarians. Antar is your home, too…"**

**And you must know that Dinuvia is your home," Katawsh replied. "We will leave your residences just as you leave them so that you may return to visit anytime, my friends."**

**"Thank you, Katawsh."**

**"The Departure? No, Zor, let's just call it… The Friendship Alliance."**

**Zor nodded. "The Friendship Alliance it is, Katawsh. It is The Friendship Alliance."**

**Zor waved his hand, and a bright blue light filled the room. Max, Michael, Liz, Maria, Isabel, Alex, Kyle, and Tess all found themselves back in the CrashDown. As they looked around, Jeff Parker walked in.**

**"Where have you guys been? I need you. There are customers out there!"**

**Liz smiled, as she tied on an apron. "It's a long story, Dad. Remind me to tell you about it sometime."**

** The End **


	2. check

**Check out the following stories by Island Breeze:**

**Altered Time Series**

**---Altered Time – Destiny in the Stars**

**---Life in the Stars**

**---Children of the Universe**

**---The Four Faces of Rath**

**Short Fics:**

**---Departure – If I Did it My-y-y-y Way**

**---Buffy Goes to Antar**

**---Star Trails to Antar **


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